Paper No.

671

Evaluation of Flexible Pavements with Stabilized

Granular and Bituminous Base

Nischal Gupta1 Manoj Kumar Shukla2

Abstract
The present study was taken up with an objective of quantifying the benefits of using cement
Treated Sub-Base and/or foam bitumen stabilized base course in a flexible pavement. The Cement
Treated Sub-Base (CTSB) was prepared at 3 percent cement content and conforming to the grading
as given in Ministry of Road Transport & Highways Specifications for Road Works (MoRT&H
2013). The compressive strength of the mix material was determined at Proctor’s density and it was
used to calculate the resilient modulus (MR). Design of foamed bitumen stabilized base course with
RAP was also carried out in the laboratory. The foam bitumen was prepared with expansion ratio
of 14 and half-life of 12s at 180ºC. The optimum foaming water content at these parameters was
5.0 percent by weight of bitumen. The optimum moisture content for the RAP collected from a
project site was 6.0 percent. The design of the mix was done based on Indirect Tensile Strength
(ITS) and optimum binder content was obtained as 2.25 percent by weight of the mix. Tests for
resilient modulus, Tensile Strength Ratio (TSR), beam fatigue and rutting were conducted to assess
the performance of the mix. Four types of pavement sections are designed with different subbase
and base materials and results are compared. It is found that use of CTSB with Foam bitumen
stabilized RAP layer reduces the thickness of the pavement by 35.4 percent. It is due to better
performance of CTSB layer coupled with foam bitumen stabilized layer. When RAP is replaced by
WMM layer, then thickness of the pavement remains same. It shows that use of RAP can completely
eliminate the requirement of WMM layer in a pavement without affecting its life.

1. INTRODUCTION subgrade are calculated using the software and these

Flexible pavements in India are designed based on
California Bearing Ratio (CBR) of subgrade soil and
expected number of cumulated axles during design
life of the pavement. The method of design allows
use of conventional as well as stabilized materials
in any layer of the pavement and thickness of each
layer is taken from the templates given in design
code (1). The pavement so designed is checked for
rutting and fatigue failure criteria using software
IITPAVE which was developed as part of the design
code. The tensile strain at bottom of the bituminous
layer and vertical compressive strain at top of the
values are then compared with permissible values.
Adjustments are made in the layer thicknesses, if
required to make the design safe. Recent revision
of the flexible pavement design code (IRC:37,
2012) allows new technologies like use of cement
treated sub-base (CTSB) layers and new age
binder technologies like foam bitumen. These
are expected to provide better pavement structure
with minimal maintenance and rehabilitation
(M&R) requisites. Use of foamed bitumen with
Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) in bituminous
binder course will reduce requirement of virgin

1
Undergraduate Student, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Thapar University, Patiala, Punjab, E-mail: nischal5495@gmail.com
2
Principal Scientist and Head, Flexible Pavement Division, Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi 110025, India

Journal of the indian Roads Congress, July - September, 2017 109